Epic's meandering trip to 'Fire Island' Historian Charles L. Mee is also a playwright with a lengthy list of works to his credit, but he could more accurately be called an anti-playwright. Having declared that “there is no such thing as an original play,” he has proceeded, typically, to assemble and reconstruct theater pieces from found texts.

Mixed Magic's 'The House In Providence' As someone says toward the end of this intriguing social-study kitchen-sink drama, it’s easy to get along with people you don’t deal with every day, who don’t know you inside out and can make you feel terrible with just a look.

Trinity Rep's 'House & Garden' doubles your pleasure What a clever idea. Use the same cast and adjacent sets, and develop characters and their stories into two plays that stand alone but also offer the bonus of familiarity to audience members who see them both.

Anne Pasquale gets under 'BOB''s skin ' BOB: Blessed Be the Dysfunction That Binds ' is about Anne Pasquale’s experiences growing up with a “special needs person” with schizophrenic tendencies, a balancing act of love and trepidation. Bob, you see, could be violent.

2nd Story and Mixed Magic's 'The Exonerated' Don't ever get arrested for a serious crime. That's one of the infuriating lessons learned from ' The Exonerated ,' a drama of justice delayed written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen.

The Wilbury Group's 'Threepenny Opera' Despite its scathing critique of the excesses of capitalism, The Threepenny Opera has fascinated even investment bankers since its creation in 1928. Perhaps especially investment bankers, seeing that it centers around a dark "hero" with the morals of an alley cat and the luck of one with nine lives.

Epic's 'Alice in Wonderland' Clever idea, setting Lewis Carroll's surreal Alice books in an insane asylum. But like many simple creative notions that are roiling with complexity under the surface, it can be woefully difficult to pull off.

Mixed Magic's absorbing 'Zoo Story' The set-up couldn't be more straightforward: two strangers are having a conversation in New York's Central Park. Correspondingly, the set couldn't be more simple: a park bench in front of tall color photographs of its bucolic backdrop.

The Gamm's 'Beauty Queen of Leenane' Some people are brittle and dry as tinder, but they don't have the sense to not play with matches. The two women at the dangerous center of Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Leenane could blaze up at any moment, and we know that one or both will by the end. Each is filled with so much pent-up hatred that spontaneous combustion seems a distinct possibility.

Tennessee Williams's 'The Rose Tattoo' at 2nd Story Taking place on the hot Louisiana Gulf Coast, Tennessee Williams's The Rose Tattoo is steamy in more than one way, as human passions boil off repressed emotions.

Epic stages Pinter's time-twisting 'Betrayal' Although prolific British playwright Harold Pinter directed much of his professional attention to the outer world of political affairs, he focused it most narrowly in a little play about more intimate affairs. ' Betrayal' charts the gradual emotional changes of three people as they go through their dances of deception over several years.

Shakespeare's 'Much Ado' at URI The University of Rhode Island Theatre is putting some of the Bard's favorite characters through their paces with determined affection. We get villainy as well as heroics, and wordplay instead of swordplay.

'Sister Act' rattles the rafters at PPAC For all the fun we had along with Whoopi Goldberg in the movie ' Sister Act ,' the musical version is a delight all its own, as the show touring through Providence Performing Arts Center is demonstrating.